The War Of The Worlds

The Artilleryman & The Fighting Machine

(Twilight's POV)

Me and my friends awoke to the sounds of the aliens hammering in the common. My fear rose at the sounds of somepony creeping in. Then I saw it was a young artilleryman, weary, streaked with blood and dirt.
"Anypony here?" He said.
"Come in. Here - drink this." I gave the artilleryman a glass of water.
"Thank you."
"What's happened?"
"They wiped us out. Hundreds dead maybe thousands!"
"The Heat-Ray."
"The Martians! They were inside the hoods of machines they'd made - massive metal things on legs! Giant machines that walked - they attacked us! They wiped us out!" The artilleryman said scared.
"Machines?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Fighting Machines! Picking up stallions and bashing 'em against trees. Just hunks of metal, but they knew exactly what they were doing."
"Mmm. There was another cylinder came last night." Rarity said.
"Yes. It looked bound for Canterlot."
"Canterlot! Celestia & Luna! I could never dream there would be any danger to the princesses. We must go to Canterlot at once!" I said.
"And me. Got to report to headquarters - if there's anything left of it."

(Normal POV)

Twilight and her friends left Sugarcube Corner and ran to the train station. They saw an inn, but it was deserted. The Artilleryman found a kitchen and we filled our stomachs with everything we could.
"Look! A bottle of Whiskey. That's a lucky find!" The Artilleryman said.
They made it to the field which was in between Ponyville and the station but not a single soul anywhere.
"Is everpony dead?" Asked the Artilleryman.
"Not everpony. Look! Six gunners with unicorns standing by." Pinkie pie said.
"It's bows and arrows against the lightning. They haven't seen the heat ray yet!"

They hurried along the road to the station. Suddenly, there was a heavy explosion. The ground heaved, windows shattered and gusts of smoke erupted into the air.
"Look! There they are! What did I tell you?" The artilleryman shouted.
Quickly, one after the other, four of the Fighting Machines appeared. Monstrous tripods, higher then the tallest steeple, striding over the pine trees and smashing them. Walking engines of glittering metal. Each carried a huge funnel and the Mane Six realized with horror that they'd seen this awful thing before.

A fifth Machine appeared on the far bank. It raised itself to full height, flourished the funnel high in the air - and the ghostly, terrible Heat Ray struck Ponyville. As it struck, all five Fighting Machines exulted, emitting deafening howls which roared like thunder.
ULLA!

ULLA!

The six guns they had seen fired simultaneously, decapitating a Fighting Machine. The Martian inside the Hood was slain splashed to the four winds, and the body, nothing now but an intricate device of metal, went whirling to destruction. As the other monsters advanced, ponies ran away, the artilleryman among them. The guns kept firing but the Heat Ray sent them to oblivion.

ULLA!

Twilight looked around for a safe place and noticed the river.
"Girls! Jump in the river! They won't be able to see us!" After that the six ponies jumped in the river and held their breaths. The foot of Fighting Machine came close to the heads of the six mares and rose up only to land a few meters away from them. The six jolted up and saw the Four Tripods advancing away from them carrying away debris of their fallen comrade, but they saw the smoking remains of Ponyville. But what mattered most was that by a miracle, they had escaped.

ULLA!

ULLA!

ULLA!

Next chapter:
The Storm In Manehatten & The Shielded Tripod